Tuesday, September 27, 2011

I love cooking Chinese food because it's easy and fast . Stir frying is what I like best and you only need not much ingredients to create a meal in a flash . So if you have some ginger , garlic and some condiments ( and you should have :D ) you're good to go !

* Heat the garlic until brown , then add the beef until very light brown ( don't cook it too long or it will be hard to chew ) , transfer to a plate ;
* In the same pan , add ginger until fragrant , then add the chives , stir and add some tiny bit of water , cover for a minute then add in the cooked beef , stir until just combine , adjust taste by adding salt and pepper , then stir in the cornstarch mixture . Dish up .

Friday, September 23, 2011

There I go again , adding instant espresso if I can get away with it ^-^" Sadly, I haven't tasted any of it in the cookies , maybe I'll add more next time . This is actually a chocolate chip cookies recipe but I added more nuts than chocolate thus the name . These are soft and chewy cookies because molasses was added . The 1st batch of cookies that I baked was still quiet soft after resting for quiet sometime , so I reduced the temperature to 190°C from 200°C and baked it for 15 minutes . Recipe adapted from the book of former Executive Pastry Chef of the White house , Roland Mesnier , Dessert University

* Combine the flour , baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl . ( I added the espresso also )
* In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment , cream together the butter and both sugar until thoroughly combined . Beat in the eggs , molasses and vanilla , scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necassary. Stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated . Then stir in teh chocolate chips and walnuts . Place bowl in the fridge and allow the dough to chill for 1 hour.
* Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C . Line several baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats pads.
* Drop heaping tablespoons or #40 ice cream scoops of the dough 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets , flattening them slightly by hand .
* Bake until just light golden , 8 to 10 minutes . Cool cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheets before using a metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely .

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

And yet another ice cream post ☺ It's only September , so I still have few more weeks to make some more ice cream , yey ! But , of course , winter's coming so it's a big relief . This summer's the hottest so far , especially here , where tall building's everywhere and you seldom see some plants and trees around tsk tsk . Recipe from the Chinese book ( been to the lib so many times but still couldn't find it ^-^" ) , again . Actually , this is a strawberry ice cream recipe hee hee , and I don't have strawberry in hand but got nearly a kilo of frozen blueberry in the freezer ☺The good thing about making your own purée is you get to control the amount of sugar you use in the ice cream . In this recipe , I used half of the sugar to make the purée . But if you use store-bought purée , make adjustment to the amount of sugar needed in making the ice cream .

* For the blueberry purée , put blueberries , half of the sugar , lemon zest and a pinch of salt in a saucepan , cook over medium heat , stirring until mixture boils and berries soften . Add lemon juice and cool . Put in the food processor or blender ( I didn't , so you can see some bb skin swirling around :P ) , pulse to blend .

To make the ice cream :

* Place egg yolks and half of the sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until pale yellow in color ;
* Heat milk in a saucepan until warm , pour the milk gradually to the yolk mixture , whisking as you pour ; return the mixture in the saucepan to heat and stir until thicken ; set aside to cool ;
* Use a spatula to fold the purée into the egg mixture , then fold in the whipping cream ;

Thursday, September 15, 2011

So I got this recipe for making Pistachio ice cream from one of the book that I borrowed from the library . I thought I finished jotting it down ( our copier's out of ink , as usual tsk tsk ) before returning it back . I found out that I have only written the first direction , which is to grind the nuts hee hee . Checking it online , it takes me a long time to finally made up my mind on what direction should I use . There's so many recipes with different ingredients and how to make it *sigh* . I'd read this recipe and hmmmm so I decided to steep the nuts in my milk & sugar mixture . I'm set . I'll just wing it as I go along . How hard could it be ? As long as my custard won't be as sticky as the last time ^-^"

* Grind the nuts ( I added 10 grams of sugar from the recipe )
* Beat the egg yolks & half of the sugar , until pale yellow .
* Heat the milk and the remaining sugar until simmering , then add in the grind nuts and let it steep for 15 minutes .
* Add in the cream , mix thoroughly , put back in the stove and heat again until warm .
* Pour some of the mixture over the eggs and whisking as you pour .
* Return the mixture to the saucepan and stirring constantly , cook until the mixture looks thick but still pourable .
* You can either strain the mixture , I didn't , and cool the custard in the ice bath .
* Churn in the machine then put in the freezer for at least 2 hours .
* Take some PHOTOS first and eat it immediately hee hee

List of ingredients copied from the book that I borrowed from the lib but forgot the title , sorry , will check it again at the library ☺.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

400 grams penne or any pasta of your choice
250 grams salmon , you can either steam or fry it
100 grams grated cheese , add more if you love it ^-^
a cup of cream , I use Nestlé all purpose cream
a cup of milk
some chopped onion or shallots
some minced garlic
some chopped coriander
some chilli flakes
salt & black pepper to taste

Friday, September 9, 2011

So I made my first homemade ice cream :) :) :) . At first , I resigned myself of making it without an ice cream maker but luckily I bought one online :D and it's only a hk$100 ( around $13 ) . To think with all that prep on how to make it , making it will be a breeze , not !!! I forgot to check online on how to make a custard . I overcooked mine :( . After I put it on an ice bath to cool it down , it has this mousse-like consistency ..... 'twas still liquid but after checking it on Youtube , I just like ekkkkkkk , should have looked it online before doing it :D . Told myself , maybe it won't freeze properly tsk tsk but in fairness - it tastes delicious hee hee . Still , after churning it for around 30 minutes , I put it the freezer overnight and was so surpised that it turned out okay ! And yet , another minor disaster , my scoop's broken *sigh* so , when I used it I didn't get that nice round neat scoop of ice cream tsk tsk oh well :D . Move over , you infernal , overpriced Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream hee hee

* In a bowl , whisk together the egg yolks , 3 T of the sugar and salt .
* Combine the milk , cream , espresso and the remaining 3 T sugar in a heavy saucepan .
* Cook over medium heat , stirring occasionally , until almost simmering .
* Slowly pout the milk mixture in to the egg mixture , whisking as you pour .
* Return the misture to the saucepan . Cook over medium-low heat , stirring constantly with a heat-resistant plastic or wooden spatula , until custard reaches 175°F and lightly coats the spatula.
* Strain custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
* Cool over an ice bath until room temperature .
* Refrigerate the custard at least 4 hours or up to overnight .
* Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Been lurking er looking ^-^" on some blogs to find some inspiration on what to cook for dinner . I usually check out the Singaporean/Malaysian blogs because most of the time they have recipes that's easy to replicate and most of their ingredients are readily available her in HK . Good thing I stumbled upon this blog . The result was okay but I was looking for that thin and crunchy-looking fritter just like in her blog :P . I got this dense fritters I guess because I added an egg ? Don't know for sure , maybe next time I won't :D ( egg's not included in her recipe ) I also added more prawns , around 20 or more , and some chopped coriander .

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

These 2 are , probably , the best selling drinks in HK . Almost every household here , I guess have one in their fridge . It's cheap , too hahahha . Actually , I don't really like Yakult but hello ! Lactobacillus , anyone ? :D so I drink it from time to time :P . The other one , my fave :D , Vita Lemon Tea , it's so sweet , you're going to get a tooth decay after drinking it hee hee But it's really gooooood , only if it 's ice cold :P :D if not , forget it .....

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Death by caffeine . That's what I called these muffins :D One of the best and easiest recipe to date . I added some chocolate at the top coz I still have these ( melted ) truffle chocolates that's been sitting inside the fridge for a month ? or 2 :P Recipe from Baking : From My Home to Yours

* Preheat oven to 400°F
* Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin tin or fit the molds with muffin cups . Place muffin tin on a baking sheet.
* In a large bowl , whisk together the flour , sugar , espresso powder , baking powder , cinnamon and salt;
Stir in brown sugar , making sure there are no lumps .
* In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl , whisk the coffee , melted butter , egg and vanilla extract together until well combined .
* Pour the liqiud ingredients over the dry ingredients , with the whisk or rubber spatula , gently but quickly stir to blend . Don't worry about being thorough , a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter .
* Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups.
* Bake for about 20 minutes or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean .
* Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin.